


The Devil's Advocate

by saiansha



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Belligerent Sexual Tension, Boss/Employee Relationship, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Past Relationship(s), Postpartum Depression, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2020-11-26 07:00:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20926061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saiansha/pseuds/saiansha
Summary: Single father Loki Laufeyson is looking for a new nanny, and he is going to leave no stone unturned to make sure he finds only the best for his daughter. And along the way, he might discover that it is not just his daughter who has become exceedingly fond of her new caregiver.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BirdOfHermes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BirdOfHermes/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Pretty Pink, Baby Blue](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18102512) by [BirdOfHermes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BirdOfHermes/pseuds/BirdOfHermes). 

> Blame BirdOfHermes for this fic. This work is inspired by her Nanny!Thor fic, Pretty Pink, Baby Blue (linked above) as well as her new Nanny!Reader/Thor fic, Paper Hearts (linked below). She forced me to write this. But please do check out both these stories - as well as all her other stories!

Loki Laufeyson was the most unexpected client I had interviewed with.

For one, he seemed like a person who shouldn’t be allowed near children.

For another, he was a single dad.

I had it found it surprising when he had contacted me for a phone interview. Usually, it was the mothers who spearheaded the process. The fathers – if they were in the picture – were only seen or heard from during the in-person interviews, or consulted with behind the scenes. But it was Loki Laufeyson of the Laufeyson & Odinson firm who had called me and bluntly interrogated me as lawyers did.

“Good morning, this is Loki Laufeyson speaking,” a mellifluous voice with a crisp English accent had reached my ears. “I am calling with regard to your application that your agency, City Caregivers, passed on to me.”

“Oh! Hello, yes, good morning!”

The call had come out of the blue, which explained why I had given such an unpolished response. I briefly considered asking this man if I could call him back at a more appropriate time – eight in the morning was a bit too early for an interview on the weekend – but he didn’t seem like the sort who would understand.

“Yes. First, I need you to confirm a few details for me. What is your name?” I told him and he followed up with, “And what year did you graduate in?”

I gave him that info as well. He went on to ask me my minor, where I currently lived and to repeat my phone number to him. It was clear he had thoroughly reviewed my application and had probably even background-checked me. It was the standard list of questions to be asked in a phone interview. But the fact that I was caught unprepared on the weekend while I had absolutely no clue about whom I was speaking with – while he already knew every little detail about me – was doing nothing for my state of mind.

“Very well,” he concluded. “Now that we have established you are whom your application says you are, let’s move on to the other questions. I can see that you have taken care of several children under two years of age full-time, part-time as well as ad hoc. My daughter is 15 months old and is in need of a full-time nanny. That means around eight hours of work for certain, but given the nature of my job, there will be a lot of overtime. Is that something you are open for?”

“Um, yes.”

“Very well, next question. What is your salary range?”

It was one thing to discuss salary after you’d met them and they had met you, but another to discuss it on the phone without fully knowing what you were heading into.

He must not have liked the pause on my end for he said, “I do not want to select you only to find out at the last moment that you are not up for the job or that you charge more than I am willing to pay and thus, begin the process all over again. So if it does not offend your Quaker-like sensibilities, would you care to share your salary range?”

I bit my lip as I processed not just the man’s words but the way he had said them. What in hell was up with him? He hadn’t even told me what work he expected of me, so how could I tell him what I would end up charging?

“It depends on what tasks you expect of me,” I said, hating myself for sounding so hesitant.

“Take care of my child, take her out to play in the park, take her out for occasional treats and do some light housework, including doing the dishes and some food preparations.”

I could hear the eye roll in his voice. “What do you mean ‘light?’ And what do you mean by ‘some food preparations?’”

“You will see if you qualify for the next round. Now, what is your salary range?”

Well, if he wanted me to be a housekeeper then it was certainly going to cost him a lot more. “20 to 25 an hour,” I said, expecting him to balk.

“Excellent,” he remarked before moving on, not giving me the time to recover from the surprise. “Are you available to start immediately?”

“Yes." 

“You can expect to work for at least twelve hours on weekdays and depending on what emergencies unfold in my work, you may have to work an extra five to ten hours. I travel frequently as well, which means some days you may have to stay overnight. Are you willing to do that?”

I frowned. I did the maths and realised that he was asking me to work for around sixty hours each week, if not more. “Are you a doctor?”

“No, I’m a lawyer.”

Well, that explained the hours as well as the hostility. “I need some time to think about this.”

“Don’t we all? But I do not have the time, so you will have to make a decision now.”

I glared at my reflection in the mirror, since I could not glare at the man who was currently treating me as if I had lied in court under oath. It was clear he had never done the nanny-hiring process and that if he had, he had likely scared away all the other candidates with his assholery. Moreover, why was it _he_ who was doing this? Where was the mother?

And so what if he’s a lawyer? He had no right to interrogate me for a task he had just stumbled into 15 months ago while I had been doing it for the past ten years. And just because nannies didn’t have to see their employer for most of their work day, it didn’t mean that they weren’t going to be a pain in the ass anyway and I didn’t need to be a genius to know that this guy was going to be the biggest pain of them all. Sure, I needed the money, but not so desperately that I needed to sell my soul to Kevin Lomax on steroids.

“I’m sorry, but I do need some time to think about this,” I said politely but firmly.

I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d just simply disconnected without a ‘goodbye’ at that point, but he did love catching me unawares.

“Very well. My secretary will contact you in a few hours. Make your decision by then. If you are so inclined, then set up a time, day and place for an in-person interview with her. Good day.” 

And before I could even thank him or ask him anything, he disconnected.

I still hadn’t come to terms with this phone interview by the time the day of my in-person interview rolled around.

I hadn’t wanted to go for the interview. I felt like neither of us were going to like the other, which was going to make it a waste of time – and I didn’t like wasting time, either mine or anybody else’s. But then I and my girl friends had researched this man – whose name I was only able to spell because the secretary included it in her email – and they had all convinced me that there was still no harm just going to an interview. Best case, I got the job. Worst case, I got some practice at dealing with an asshole.

That’s what they said, of course. Me? I thought they were a little too charmed by the fact that Loki Laufeyson was extremely good looking and extremely wealthy and just so happened to have an extremely good looking and extremely wealthy brother called Thor.

So I knew who he was the second he stepped into the café close to his office, but there were still several differences between the man I’d seen on the internet and the man I was seeing now. 

He looked much thinner and much more tired than his photographic version. And while no one could say he looked warm and inviting in his photo, there was a certain frostiness and hardness to him in person that somehow the camera had completely missed. But there were similarities as well: he was every bit as good looking as he had appeared to be in his photo, with his pale skin, jet black hair and blue-green eyes and chiseled features, and the sharpness in his gaze had crossed the virtual world into the real world.

He wasn’t the only one who had been recognised – I had been too. As soon as he saw me, he crossed over to me in a few long strides. I stood up awkwardly, noting how the camera hadn’t hinted at just how tall he was. He switched his black laptop bag into his other hand and shook my hand. It was a firm handshake - neither too tight nor those annoying dainty handshakes that some men give to women for fear of breaking their dainty bones. He was a professional.

“Can I get you a coffee?” he asked.

“No, thanks, I’m good.” 

“Very well,” he said as he gestured for me to sit then followed suit. “Enjoying your day so far?”

I wasn’t expecting him to make small talk, given how curt he’d been over the phone. “Yes, how about you?”

“That would depend on your definition of enjoyment,” he said with a smirk. It lit up his face, making him appear much more jovial and relaxed.

He was very young, I noted. Not too young to be settled, of course, for he couldn’t have been much older than me, but too young for a lawyer to be settled with a child. Then again, he was a partner at his firm, so maybe it provided him some flexibility.

I smiled in lieu of an answer. He cleared his throat. “Tell me about your experience with the Lindseys and their 18 months-old daughter.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if he had already checked my references. “I took care of her for six months to get her ready to go to daycare. That included gradually letting her be around other children, getting her started on alphabets and numbers, teaching her when it’s okay to go explore and when it’s time to come back. She finally started attending day care a little before she turned two.”

“What did your daily routine look like?”

“I would go to their house at eight in the morning, then feed the child her breakfast. After that it would be bath time and then we’d spend some time playing and reading. Then, after I fed her lunch, she would take a nap. Once she woke up, I’d give her some milk and we’d go to the playground for around two hours. By the time I brought her back, one of her parents would have got back from work. And during the day, I would also do potty training.”

“What would you do while she took a nap?”

What an odd question. “I’d be there in the bedroom with her and do my own reading or browsing.”

“What was the most challenging part of your work?” 

“It would have to be the potty training. Some kids take to it well, and some don’t. The Lindseys’ baby took a little while. I don’t think she was ready for it, but since I had been tasked with getting her ready for daycare, I had to start the training sooner than I would’ve preferred.”

He didn’t nod or show any sign of approval or disapproval. It was unnerving. I liked to tailor my answers depending on what the interviewer seemed interested in, but he wasn’t giving me anything to work with.

“Do you know how to swim?” he asked.

“A little, though I am no lifeguard.”

“What about driving?”

“Yes. And I have a car.”

“Do you smoke?”

“No.”

“Any history of substance abuse?”

“No,” I said as tonelessly as possible. 

“What are some of the challenges you expect to face if you get this job?”

Interesting question. No one had ever asked me that before. I thought over it and tried to frame my thoughts as delicately as possible. “My concern would be that I might not get to meet your expectations as I think you have a very rigidly defined right way of doing things.”

“I see. And how would you address that?”

My heart had begun thumping hard. If this interview/interrogation was anything to go by, he was probably a very good lawyer. That was probably a good thing for him, but it wasn’t looking so good for me right now. “I, um, probably ask you to define what exactly you want and then discuss with you what is feasible and what is important.”

He leaned forward. “So you think what I see as important may not actually be important?”

My body heated up unpleasantly. “I’m not saying that! It’s just that new parents often think there is a certain way of doing things that must be upheld, when in fact, it is the child and the child’s needs that should be dictating how things are done. And sometimes you need experience to decide what should be done your way and what should be done the child’s way – which is what I am here to help you with.”

He narrowed his eyes and kept staring at me. I fought the urge to shrink back in my chair. As the silence continued, I tried to think of what to say, but then he moved away from the table and back to his ramrod straight posture in his chair.

“Very well. Do you have any questions for me?”

I couldn’t tell if he were pissed or not. I tried to remember what questions I’d prepared. “Could you tell me a little about your daughter?”

His shoulders relaxed slightly and I took it as a good sign. “Her mother named her Helena just so that she could call her ‘Hel,’ since in Norse mythology, Hel is the name of the daughter of Loki, the Norse god after whom I’m named.”

I snickered. He smiled tightly and went on. “She’s 15 months old. I am not interested in looking for a daycare for her at the moment, as my schedule is too unpredictable and my hours too long for that. I also do not feel comfortable enough to let her outside the house for an entire day. She is a quiet child but she is known for throwing some major tantrums. It takes quite a bit of patience to deal with that – something which I possess when it comes to extracting answers to strengthen my case, but not when it comes to dealing with children.”

Was I imagining the heaviness in his voice at the end? Probably. But I couldn’t contain my curiosity any longer; I wanted to question him about the mother. It was a topic that I wanted to get over with, but it was also a question that required sensitivity. I tried to think of a way to ask him, but he beat me to it.

“You want to ask me about the mother. Don’t deny it, I can see it in your face,” he said. 

I thought of protesting, but realised that there was no point. He was right and I needed the information anyway. “Yes, please,” I said.

His gaze wasn’t as sharp anymore. Rather, it seemed like he had steeled himself for some unpleasantness. “After her mother – my wife – gave birth to our daughter, she suffered from severe Postpartum Depression. I started working from home to help her and take care of the baby. Nine months went by and still, she did not recover. I couldn’t keep up my current work arrangement anymore, so I found a nanny to take care of our daughter and help my wife. But around the time our daughter turned a year old, my wife left us.”

I had to remind myself to breathe. I looked at him with parted lips and eyes full of sympathy. It couldn’t have been easy watching your wife struggle and having to take care of your daughter, only for her to leave you both in the end. And while I hadn’t warmed up to him as a person, judging by the way he was interviewing me and how invested he seemed in the process, I couldn’t imagine Loki being an absentee father who drove the mother to despair by dumping all the responsibility of childcare on her.

“I’m sorry,” I said at last.

He rolled his eyes. “You’re not my wife, are you? Then don’t be.”

I looked at him, stricken, before schooling my face back to neutral. Clearly, his sharp tongue was used both as offense and defence.

“Well, that was also the time the nanny decided to leave, as she felt she didn’t want to work in an environment as tense as ours anymore. The nannies who came after her were either available to work for only a short-term basis, or did not like the number of hours I asked them to put in, or were not comfortable working for a single father whose wife had suffered PPD. That is why I have asked you most of these questions over the phone, for I simply do not have the time to keep interviewing people only for them to tell me last moment that they are not willing to do the very things I wanted to hire them for. I know you are comfortable with the former two, but what about the latter?”

Marital status and marital life could indeed make all the difference for a nanny. The aim was to provide the child with a comfortable and secure environment and things like the parents’ relationship provided for too many outside variables that nannies could not control for. So, I understood why those other nannies had left or turned him down. Personally, I didn’t see anything wrong with this situation, but I wanted to be absolutely sure before I signed up.

“I would like to meet your daughter first, if that’s okay with you,” I said.

He surveyed me with narrowed eyes and I was worried he was going to force me to say yes or no on the spot as he had done on the phone, but to my surprise, he nodded. “Very well. From my side, it is a yes. I have already checked all your references and they all have been positive. Here,” he said as he reached down to put his black laptop bag on the table. He opened it and held out a binder to me. “This is a contract. It sets down what exactly I expect of you, what you can expect of me, and what we can negotiate upon. It is not legally binding, but it will be a good thing for us both to cross-reference to make sure we are both satisfied.”

I’d heard of nanny contracts, of course, but I’d never actually got one. And this looked like the most extensive contract that I would ever sign. Perks of working for a lawyer, I suppose. The fact that he had already checked my references was also surprising. Usually employers did it only after they’d interviewed their candidate in person, not before.

I took the binder from him and smiled. “Am I going to need a lawyer to help me get through this?”

He snickered. “Don’t worry; it is all in everyday English. My secretary will be in touch with you to fix a date and time you can come over to my house. Read the contract before then and we can discuss it once you’re there.”

He stood up and I followed suit, albeit less gracefully. “Thank you for this interview, Mr. Laufeyson,” I said sincerely. “And thank you for considering me for taking care of your daughter.”

He shook my hand. “Thank _you_ for making my decision so easy.”

He gave me a smile, then turned around and marched out of the café as briskly as he’d come, leaving me with the memory of his sea green eyes and the faint whiff of his cologne. I made my way back home, preparing myself for an evening full of reading an extensive contract and for - potentially - working for Loki Laufeyson.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You finalise your contract and meet little Hel. Read this chapter on Tumblr.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I'm really overwhelmed with all the reactions I've got for this story! Thank you so much to all of you! I am sorry I couldn't update this sooner, but I hope you enjoy this chapter - which doubles as a very late birthday present for BirdOfHermes. Happy birthday, Birb! Everyone, do check out all her sizzling hot stories!

I landed outside at the Laufeyson house at eight in the morning on Saturday. I was in the middle of yawning when the mahogany door swung open to reveal an alarmingly alert and well-dressed Loki. He was dressed in a white shirt that had an unbuttoned collar and top button, and a pair of grey slacks. Thankfully, I wasn’t too underdressed. I had reached for a simple top and a pair of jeans, but had decided to upgrade my attire a notch at the last moment. Loki had seemed to be like a person who probably wore business professional even to bed and by the looks of it, I’d made the right call to put some more effort into my appearance.

“Good morning,” he said and stood back to let me in.

“Good morning, how are you?”

He shut the door quickly. “As well as anyone who needs to get up at eight in the morning on the weekend must be, which is to say, not very.”

“Most parents are up at six even on the weekends,” I said drily.

“They wouldn’t need to be if they did not have a child, which brings us to this predicament.”

I looked at him curiously. He had the oddest sense of humour – though I wasn’t sure if it _was_ humour. He had taken responsibility of the child, but he definitely didn’t enjoy being a father.

He cleared his throat. “Coffee?”

I shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind, thanks.”

“Let’s have it in the kitchen while we review the contract.”

I followed him into the spacious island kitchen and plonked myself at the table. It was plain and simple, save for the little splashes of colour provided by the vibrant jars and pots and pans. Loki asked me how I liked my coffee and prepared one for me and one for himself. He sat down on the opposite side, where his laptop was kept.

“Come here,” he patted the stool by his side. “If we need to amend the contract, then we can do it together on my laptop.”

It was interesting that he wasn’t just marking up changes on paper. Perhaps he was being eco-friendly. I grabbed my mug and made my way to him. I half expected him to jump away from me, but thankfully, he wasn’t that uncivil.

“Right, let’s begin. What are your thoughts?”

I opened the binder he’d given me at our last meeting. I had spent hours going over it; it was the most comprehensive nanny contract I’d ever seen. He was offering me 60 guaranteed hours, with $20 being paid for the standard 40 hours, and overtime for the other 20. He was also covering the full amount of my health premium. The things that I did want to bring up were the overnight fees, travel and transportation, and vaccinations.

“So, you say here that you will pay me a flat overnight fee of $50. It is lower than the industry standard and I would like it if you can raise it to $75, or if you pay me half of my hourly rate for every night Helena spends sleeping.”

“Hel,” he said.

“Sorry?”

“You may call her Hel.”

“Okay, thanks.”

He moved his fingers along his lips back and forth. “Very well, let’s change it to half your hourly rate, which will be at $10.” He edited the section quickly then turned to me. “Next?”

I looked down into my binder, unnerved at making eye contact while sitting so close to him. “Thanks. I was just wondering: would you not want to include a section on travel? That is, having me take care of Hel if we go on a trip?”

“That won’t be necessary. She is too young to travel and I wouldn’t want her to accompany me anyway.”

I tried to not frown at that. “Okay. Well, about transportation. I’m okay with using my car during work, but I would say that reimbursement as per the IRS Standard Mileage Rate would be better than a flat fee for gas, as the IRS rate will take care of normal wear and tear of the car as well.”

“I am not expecting you to drive through rocky terrain or difficult areas. I am also not expecting you to make multiple trips during work hours. Even if you do, however, it is not such a deviation from the normal flow of things that you must be compensated. After all, we all have had to hop into our cars to go around the city for something related to work. A flat rate would suit our purposes much better and also allow me to give you a generous bonus and a raise, if all goes well, as well as pay for your premium.”

“Well, related to the health thing: I see here that you expect me to get Td boosters as well as a flu shot. I am not due for a booster for a few more years, as you may have seen on my record. So will you pay for my flu shots?”

He looked me evenly. “No. You are in the caregiving industry, so you should be vaccinated against anything that may make a child sick, including influenza. Just because the flu is not as serious a disease as the others, it does not mean that I want my child to catch it from her nanny. If you can get the other shots yourself, then you can get the flu shot yourself as well. Again, I remind you, I am paying 100% of your monthly premium. I am not paying you a flat fee that will never change; I am committing to paying for your healthcare no matter how much it increases. It is also for your own personal benefit. Do you accept?”

I nodded grudgingly. Fingers crossed my insurance covered it – and that I could have it covered without too much of a drudgery.

“What about the gas?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

“What else?”

I flicked through the binder once more. “Oh, right. I see you want me to shop for the groceries as well.”

“Yes, and you may buy whatever you prefer to cook for yourself during the day.”

I sucked in a deep breath. I never liked talking about money – and I was dreading talking about it with a lawyer – but it had to be done. “I think if you are asking me to routinely pick up groceries for yourself and for the hours that I am not here, along with my work hours, then you should pay me $21.

I tried to not look away, but it was hard; he maintained a most intense and uncomfortable eye contact. He looked at me for the longest while and I feared that he was going to say no. So, you could imagine my surprise when he said:

“Very well.”

My eyes widened with surprise. “Are you sure?”

His lips twitched while he edited the salary and updated the overtime rate. “Word of advice: don’t ever ask that when someone is editing a contract in your favour.”

I couldn’t help but smile as I watched him. “Oh, and you’ll have to edit that at the –”

“Overtime section, yes.” He looked at me wryly. “I am a lawyer, not a crook.”

“I didn’t mean to imply that.”

“I know.”

“Thank you,” I said awkwardly.

He shook his head. “Not at all. It is a good thing you are being open. Communication is key. Now, what else?”

“Yes, just two more things. First, the reimbursement thing. You have mentioned here that I have to show you the receipt of the payments made for groceries or treats or any other things and you will add that amount to my paystub on payday. I’m sorry, but I don’t feel comfortable paying with my own card.”

“Why not?”

“I’ve done this before for other families and they always forget to make the payments or promise to settle it much later. It gets tough financially and it also becomes extremely awkward to bring it up with the family every single time.”

“I am not as careless with money and the rights of those working for me as some of the people you have described, but I understand I must earn your trust first. I will establish an alternative, but as that will take some time, I will ask you to carry on with this arrangement for the first four weeks. Does that sound fair?”

“Yes, thank you. Just one more thing: I don’t think the fee in case you are going to be late and have not notified me in advance is sufficient.”

He shrugged. “I am a lawyer; sometimes meetings run over and emergencies spring up. I cannot keep shelling out extra money for just being fifteen minutes late, especially when cases go to trial. I do promise that I will pay you a dollar a minute every time I am later than an hour, or 50 cents a minute for every third time I am later than the appropriate time. I do hope you can grant me this concession owing to the nature of my profession.”

I probably should’ve stood my ground on this, but it wasn’t worth it. Besides, he had been very amenable to most of my concerns. “Okay, then leave it as it is.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes.”

“Would you like to sign the contract now?

“Actually, could I meet Hel first?” I asked.

“Oh, yes, of course. Follow me. Don’t worry about that,” he said when he noticed me thinking about what to do with the cups.

I followed him upstairs. It was a nice house in a nice area. It wasn’t the biggest house, but it was comfortable and well kept. It had three bedrooms and three bathrooms. Loki guided me to the farthest room. It hadn’t been marked specially as most children’s rooms were.

“Are you sure it’s okay to meet her right now?” I whispered.

“Sure. She is a cantankerous little thing any which way and I am sure she will rain hell – pun intended – sooner rather than later even if we didn’t provoke her.”

I giggled, a little confused but tickled nonetheless. He opened the door softly and I traipsed in. It was a sunny day, but the sunlight came into the room through translucent green curtains, which gave the room a calming feel. The person – or persons – who had been decorating the room had apparently abandoned halfway. Some of the painted animals on the wall were fading, and some of the animals had not been finished. There were toys and books strewn about on the shelves and on the floor. In the middle of the room was the crib, and in the crib, Ms. Helena Laufeyson.

Her eyes darted from Loki to me and back to Loki. She was fidgeting a little, but otherwise didn’t show any sign of distress. I looked at Loki, but he was busy looking at Hel.

“Mr. Laufeyson?”

“Yes?”

“I think you should talk with her and hold her first.”

He looked like he was going to protest, but he settled for nodding. He walked over to her and carefully picked her up from the crib.

“Hel,” he said, “My little Hel.” He bounced her in his arms while she put her head on his shoulder, her thumb in her mouth and stared at me. I smiled widely back at her. “We’ve got a new nanny for you and she’s here to meet you. Say hi. Say hi? Hello?”

I waved at her. “Hel! Hello!” I greeted her in a singsong voice.

The girl looked away and buried her face in the crook of her father’s neck, her inky hair blending in with her father’s own black locks.

“She’s very moody,” Loki said. “Sometimes she’ll kick and scream, other times she’ll be shy.”

“That’s what most children are like,” I noted. “Can I hold her?”

“Of course.” He tried to pass her to me, but she wasn’t having it. The harder he tried to pry her off, the more fiercely she tugged at his hair. “Ow, stop it! Let go, Hel. I said, let go!”

I bit my lip to hide my smile. “Perhaps lower her into the crib? Gravity can be a useful thing.”

He did as I asked and sure enough, she let go easily. Her wide-eyed look returned and she stared at me with interest and apprehension. I approached her slowly and bent to meet her at eye level.

“Hello, little baby,” I cooed. “Aren’t you a pretty little girl? I am your new nanny. I can’t wait to take care of you, sweetie. And we’re going to have a helluva time, you hear? Can I pick you up, baby? Can I hold you?” I asked as I drew nearer and slowly wrapped my hands around her.

She let me hold her and pull her up, but as soon as she had been lifted out of the crib, she started howling.

“Aww, no, you poor little thing,” I consoled as I bounced her and rubbed her back.

I noticed Loki make an annoyed face. “Like I said, cantankerous little thing. She has been fed, so there’s no reason for her to kick up a fuss.”

“She’s just a child. She’s a little scared. It’s okay,” I said, more to her than him. “It’s okay, isn’t it?” I kissed the crown of her head and drew her face back a little to kiss her forehead. “Shhh, sweetie, shhh… shhh.” I rocked her a little and then drew her back once more to kiss her nose. Instantly, she stopped.

Loki stared at me, baffled. “What did you do?”

I tried to hide my smile. “Nothing. Babies just need enough attention and reassurance when their other needs are taken care of. Or, a distraction,” I chuckled at the expression of wonder on Hel’s face.

He watched me hum to her and walk around with her as I talked to her. When her eyes had fallen shut once more, I took her back to her crib and gently tucked her in.

“You make it seem so easy,” he said.

“What?”

“Putting her to sleep.”

I smiled. “Just a matter of practice and patience.”

“I wouldn’t mind the ordeal so much if I had the guarantee that she wouldn’t wake up baying at all hours of the night. Any tips to deal with that?”

“Well, sadly, it is not standard practice here, but babies need the proximity of their parents at night. It helps them sleep better when they are in the same bed as their parents. It’s a part of our evolution to want to be close to our parents when we are so young and vulnerable. We wouldn’t have survived the cold or predators years and years ago without being close to them.”

He looked at me warily. “She’s not going to stop with that. In fact, it would be even more stressful to have her crying in the same room as me. Besides, there’s a risk of SIDS. At least, that's what I read.”

“The risk is mostly for infants younger than a year. Again, it is sadly not standard practice here for infants to sleep with their parents, but co-sleeping, as it's called, also allows the baby to better be able to regulate its breathing and not end up sleeping on its tummy. It also helps the infant develop better sleeping practices. Besides, if the baby is sleeping close to you, then you’d be better able to detect if something is wrong. Of course, the parent shouldn’t be using any substances or be sleeping in a fluffy bed with a thick duvet and soft mattress if they want to co-sleep with their infants.”

He was listening to me attentively but snorted after I was done. “Well, I like the mattress of my bed too much to swap it out. So, what’s the verdict?”

It just took me a second to make my decision. “I would very much like to work for you, Mr. Laufeyson, if you would have me.”

He nodded, looking pleased. “I already said it is a yes from me. Would you like to sign the contract?”

“Sure!”

“Excellent.”

He opened the door for me. We exited Hel’s room and reentered the kitchen. He hit the print command on his laptop and left the kitchen once more to get the documents. He presented me one copy of the contract and I signed it on all the twelve pages before exchanging and signing the other copy. He made the last signature with a satisfied sigh and dab of the pen.

“Well, now that is done,” he said with a lopsided smile. “Shall we seal it with a handshake?”

I beamed at him and shook his hand. “Thank you, Mr. Laufeyson.”

“Thank _you_.” He grabbed his cup and I followed. He raised it to a toast and clinked it against mine as he said, “To relatively painless caregiving.”

I smiled wryly. He did have an acidic tongue, but he was oddly charming. And while he wasn’t a warm and fuzzy person, he obviously cared about his daughter enough to be so meticulous in searching for a nanny. She was one of the luckier ones when it came to fathers and one of the unluckier ones when it came to mothers, I thought sadly.

I resolved, then, to give the little Hel as much love and nurture as I could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you thought of this chapter! I liked writing some of the childcare bits in it because it gave me an excuse to reread Ancient Bodies, Modern Lives by Wenda Trevathan, which is an excellent book. And of course, if you like this story, then I hope you'd take the time to read my other stories as well! <3

**Author's Note:**

> Liked it? Constructive criticism, kudos and comments are more than welcome! :D

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Paper Hearts](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20908406) by [BirdOfHermes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BirdOfHermes/pseuds/BirdOfHermes)


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